Twice a month the gang from Mattel are kind enough to answer five questions from AFi readers. The Mattel marketing and PR team, have replied with the answers to our latest round of questions that AFi readers have posted in our forums.

Mattel took a short break from ‘Ask Matty’ during July for Comic Con, but now they are back and ready to answer your questions.

Let’s get to the questions and the answers!

Q1. Recently in the new Evergreen Batman line there was a new mold batmobile that has been shown to be capable of fitting the DCUC figures. Is there any chance that we could see this batmobile repainted and re-packaged in a set with a DCUC scale Alfred (repainted Joker buck with new head) or a Batman with a cape that would allow him to sit in the car in the Signature Collection or some other venue?

A1. It’s a good thought and one that well have to consider on the Batmobile. Thanks! Q2. I was just wondering, is there any reason why accessories aren’t reused/shared more often? Thinking back on the Batman Legacy figures there were many figures who didn’t come with accessories, some who have iconic and needed accessories like Catwoman. Why did she not come with a whip, and why didn’t the various Batman figures just recycle different batarangs, grappling guns, or any other already produced accessory for some of these figures instead of them coming with nothing?

A2. Accessories is something we always discuss. Some people love them and some people throw them away. We always make the decision on a case by case basis, such as do we want an accessory or do we want to go for more detail in the sculpt/decoration.

Q3. Any plans to expand the Imaginext DC line to include women characters (Wonder Woman, Harley, Hawkgirl, etc) and any plans to expand the Superman Imaginext line (Lex Luthor, Metropolis playsets, Fortress of Solitude playset, etc)?

A3. Not at this time. Q4. Why do you continue to insist that a toy line must either be for “Moms and Kids” OR for “Collectors”? Why can’t a toy line be for both simultaneously?

Your Competitors seem to understand how to create an action figure line that is desirable for both the “moms and kids” group AS WELL AS “collectors”.

It seems to me that your constant efforts to segment your market into groups ultimately cuts into the potential sales of each line causing (among other factors) premature line death (I’m looking at you Young Justice).

I hate the notion, that you have kinda-sorta alluded to in past QnA’s that retail will always be for the “moms and kids” audience ONLY and that as an Adult Collector I need to buy from Mattycollector.com ONLY.

A4. It can certainly be for both and we hope most lines are! But for a line to work at retail it needs to be aimed at kids first. Without kid and mom support it is very hard to keep a line at retail. Collectors are an “addition to” a retail line much as moms and kids are an addition to online.

Q5. Recently on Ebay there appears to be an flood of what might be bootleg DCUC Gleeks. It appears that the two arms are connected internally (different than the independant moving arms of the SDCC version) and sometime the paint can vary. Several of the dealers have said these are from a “lost case.” Some people think they are early painted test shots. Some folks think they are really well done bootlegs. Have you looked into these? Can you confirm if they are legit or not?

A5. We are currently investigating this but have no details to report right now.

If you’d like to ask a question for the Sept. 1st submission then feel free to post your questions in our Mattel Q&A question submissions thread! Remember they can be about any Mattel product including MOTUC, Ghostbusters, WWE any of the Mattel DC lines, Voltron and Cars. Twice a month we draw our submission question directly from the ones that AFi readers post.

You can submit new questions in this thread.

You can find our past Q&A’s here. And you can discuss the answers on our Mattel board.

Thanks again to the team at Mattel for taking time to answer our questions!

Daniel “Julius Marx” Pickett has been around toys his whole life. The first line he ever collected was Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes line back in the 70s. He has been surrounded by collectables ever since.
In 1999 he was confounded by a lack of information and news about some of his favorite toy lines he was collecting. Since he couldn’t find the information he decided to pursue it himself thinking other people might also be interested in the same news. He started writing a weekly column on the toy industry and action figure for a toy news site and in a years time he tripled the sites daily traffic with his updates, reviews and product features.
He built relationships with every major toy manufacturer and many sculptors, painters and mold makers. He grew his hobby into a world wide expertise that the industry has embraced.
In 2004 he teamed up with his toy buddy Jason “ToyOtter” Geyer and they created their own website www.ActionFigureInsider.com.
Daniel has been quoted in both industry and mass media press outlets. Over the years Daniel and AFi have been sought out as experts in the field. Daniel was regularly featured on “Attack of the Show” on the G4 network as the primary contributor to their “Mint On Card” segment, and our front page has been linked to from USA Today’s
“Pop Candy” Blog twice. Daniel’s content has also been featured on MSNBC.com,
Wired.com, Fark.com, Boing-Boing, Gizmodo.com, Ain’t It Cool News, the Official
Star Wars blog, Geekologie, G4, CNet and Toy Fare magazine, among many
others. He has consulted on toy lines, books, documentaries and TV shows.
But all of that really just sounds snooty and “tootin’ his own horn” – the long and short of it is that Daniel loves toys and he LOVES talking about them.